Lance Kalish

Lance Kalish is the co-founder and "Chief Carrot Counter" of San Francisco based Yes To, Inc. (the makers of Yes To Carrots, Yes To Cucumbers, Yes To Tomatoes and Yes To Blueberries). At 29 years old, Lance started the company with his business partner Ido Leffler and within four years built Yes To, Inc. into one of the fastest growing skincare companies in the world, with a presence in approximately 25,000 stores in more than 24 countries including Walmart, Target, Walgreens, Whole Foods, Safeway, Sephora Europe and numerous other global retail chains. Yes To, Inc. became an instant phenomenon in the beauty industry and has been widely recognized for its unique products, global vision, entrepreneurial spirit and social outreach.

Born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1997 Lance emigrated with his family to Australia in search of a more secure lifestyle after living conditions in South Africa became unbearable due to rampant and violent crime in the early post-Apartheid era. However, growing up in a developing country that had spent the last 30 years isolated from the rest of the world, helped foster a keen sense of entrepreneurism in Lance and an insatiable appetite to explore the world. After giving up a burgeoning career in investment banking and corporate advisory that never met his entrepreneurial desires, Lance met his current business partner Ido Leffler, and the two founded Trendtrade International, a brand and consulting agency that specialized in developing international markets for health and beauty brands. These initial years living in eight different countries between them and developing new markets for more than 100 brands in more than 20 countries around the world, laid the foundations for Lance and Ido to develop the key facets that led to the sensational success of the Yes To brand.

Yes To is now a global leader in natural beauty and was described by a leading industry organization ("Organic Monitor-2010") as "One of the major factors in changing consumer's perspective of natural products from alternative to popular." Through its rapid global expansion, Yes To is considered by many in the beauty world to have achieved the fastest global expansion and distribution ever for an independent skincare brand—25,000 stores in 24 countries, all less than four years from its initial launch.

With his corporate finance experience and expertise in international business development, Lance regularly advises and consults to boards and management on developing their international strategies, particularly in the consumer brand industry. Among other achievements, Lance was named one of the "Top 50 Australian Global Achievers" by Australian Unlimited in 2013.

In the summer of 2012, Lance and his business partner, Ido Leffler, entered into an agreement with Amazon Publishing, whose authors include Tim Ferriss, Penny Marshall and Deepak Chopra, for publication of their first business book, "Get Big Fast and Do More Good: Start Your Business, Make It Huge, and Change the World," which released November 2013.